Responsible handling of printed information includes knowing when to make something available, and also knowing when and how to make it unavailable. Conventional means for destroying a document include incineration and shredding. However, highly motivated people can take a shredded document and painstakingly reassemble it to determine its original content.
Prior to the coming of the information age, particularly the last ten to twenty years, the need to destroy printed information was limited simply because there were fewer printed documents with private and confidential information. However, due to the ability of almost anyone with a computer and a printer to produce printed documents, there are more confidential documents than ever. In addition, with the proliferation of financial services and electronic transactions, there are many more financial documents circulating. Not surprisingly, there has been a rise in crime and trade secret espionage associated with obtaining this printed financial information and other printed information for use in criminal and/or commercially competitive activity.
Accordingly, with much at stake, and the willingness of criminals to snoop through trash, conventional shredding of documents is no longer an adequate measure to conclusively destroy documents.